An American Cinderella

“What happened?” I asked. “I haven’t heard.”

“That guy is a congressman. Allegedly, he let some information leak to an oil company about some new drilling laws coming down the line. The oil company bought mining rights to the preserved area before the information was publicly available.” Jaqui shook her head as she looked up at the TV. “He is so screwed.”

“What do you mean?” My stomach turned to ice. His story was sounding far too similar to my own.

“He sold secret information. He’s going to go to prison. It doesn’t matter how much money he made off the sale of the info.” Jaqui narrowed her eyes. “I can’t stand people like that. They disgust me.”

Guilt hung around my shoulders like wet cloth. They called my name for my coffee and sandwich, but I suddenly had no appetite. My phone still burned against my body.

“Aria? Your coffee is ready,” Jaqui said, giving me a gentle bump. “You sure you’re okay? You went all pale again.”

“I’m fine,” I stuttered. I reached mindlessly for my coffee and knocked it over, spilling a good amount on my shirt. I wiped at it, but it was too late. I had coffee all over my cream-colored shirt. “I guess I just need more sleep.”

“Do you want another coffee?” Jaqui asked, handing me some napkins.

“No, it’s fine,” I said, dabbing at my shirt. “I managed not to spill all of it.”

“Are you almost caught up on your boxes? I’ve seen you hard at work all morning. Gus says you stayed late on Friday,” Jaqui said, picking up one of the drink carriers. I threw away the used napkins and picked up the second one along with my sandwich.

“Yeah, just trying to get ahead of things,” I replied. I didn’t tell her that I had been busy doing research for my stepsister and not totally focusing on the job I was hired for. Again, I felt like a terrible person. I was lying to my boss about so many things.

She smiled and together we headed back to the office. Gus waved to us as we came in.

“They brought that thief in,” Gus said to Jaqui. He nodded toward one of his screens. “They are going to crucify him.”

“You’ve been watching it?” I asked. I’d kind of been hoping that no one would notice something like this.

Gus nodded. “It’s big news. No one can believe he did it. Seemed like a decent guy and everything. It’s all over every channel.”

“He deserves everything coming to him,” Jaqui spat. “Stealing state secrets to make a profit? I hope he goes to jail and rots.”

I wanted to crawl under a rock and die.

I was scum. I was less than scum.

“When our Aria is in the senate, she won’t tolerate stuff like that,” Gus announced proudly. “You’ll be one of the good ones.”

“Yeah, right.” I was already a disappointment.

I handed off the coffees to Gus and went up to my office. There I promptly deleted the picture file off my phone. I felt like washing my phone off with soap or possibly burning it just to make sure the file was gone. It didn’t feel clean enough just to delete it. I restarted it several times just to be sure.

I couldn’t do this.

I wouldn’t do this.

Chapter 14

I left work feeling hopeful, but exhausted. I’d worked hard all day. I didn’t take any more pictures of documents for my stepmother. I was done with that. It felt rather liberating. I would record a few more of our conversations and I could go to the authorities with what I had.

I was going to win. I wouldn’t end up like that congressman.

I talked to Henry on the phone while I rode the train home. It wasn’t very private, but it was good to hear his voice. He was busy with work, but made sure to take time to call me. He was excited to see me on Tuesday.

He was tired of hearing me eating out all the time, so he wanted to see if he could teach me how to cook something more than ramen noodles and chicken nuggets. As such, I was responsible for picking up groceries. He’d sent me a list of things I needed to buy for our meal. I had my grocery list ready for tomorrow’s shopping.

I had no idea what panko breadcrumbs were, but I was going to find them and buy them.